Dodgers’ May tops players in Sunday, March 12’s spring training games

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.

Box-Toppers Toppers Box

Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.

May struck out seven over four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 8-1 win over the Reds.

May would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day if this were a regular season game. Because it’s a preseason exhibition game, no Box-Toppers points are awarded.

May earned 3.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 92nd among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd struck out six over four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 8-7 win over the Twins.

Boyd would have earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day if this were a regular season game.

Boyd had a Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +8.0, same as overall Player of the Day May, but May beat Boyd out for Sunday’s top player because he had more strikeouts—seven vs. six.

This is Boyd’s second Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of 2023 spring training. He was overall Player of the Day on March 7.

Boyd earned no Box-Toppers points in 2022, appearing in 10 games with the Giants and Mariners. He earned 2.0 points in 2021 with the Tigers.

Kyle Lewis of the Diamondbacks is Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.

National League Batter of the Day—Kyle Lewis of the Diamondbacks hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-3, scoring once and driving in five runs, in the 10-9 win over the Rockies.

Lewis earned no Box-Toppers points in 2022 in 18 games with the Mariners. He earned 1.0 point each in 2020 and 2021.

Brian O’Keefe of the Mariners is Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day in Sunday’s spring training games.

American League Batter of the Day—Brian O'Keefe of the Mariners hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-10 win over the Rangers.

O’Keefe made his Major League debut Oct. 1, 2022, and has played in two games, but has not earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game and so has 0.0 career Box-Toppers points.

Matt Beaty of the Royals is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Sunday’s spring training win over the Guardians.

Notable—Matt Beaty of the Royals earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for a second straight day Sunday.

Beaty (2HR 3-3 2R 3BI in the 7-6 win over the Guardians) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the 12-2 win over the Brewers.

Box-Toppers tracks spring training games between two Major League teams and does not track World Baseball Classic games or other games that involve non-Major League teams. In Sunday’s 16 spring training games, one ended in a tie in which no Player of the Game honor was awarded (see chart below for game details). In the remaining 15, eight who earned Player of the Game honors have earned Box-Toppers points in the past (see those players here); the remaining seven players have yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors in a regular season game.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in exhibition games. Were it a regular season day, May would have earned 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Boyd would have earned 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Lewis and O’Keefe would have each earned 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would have earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners

Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).
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3/12 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +8.0 LAD 8, CIN 1 Dustin May, (W 2‑0) 4.0 2 0 0 1 7
AL +8.0 DET 8, MIN 7 Matthew Boyd, (W 2‑0) 4.0 1 0 0 1 6
BAT +6.0 ARI 10, COL 9 Kyle Lewis, DH 3 1 3 5
BAT +6.0 SEA 11, TEX 10 Brian O'Keefe, PR‑C 2 2 2 4
+6.0 HOU 5, MIA 1 Hunter Brown, (W 1‑1) 3.0 0 0 0 0 3
+5.2 `ATL 11, PIT 3 Jared Shuster 3.2 1 1 1 0 5
+5.0 TB 10, NYM 4 Niko Hulsizer, LF 3 2 3 3
+5.0 KC 7, CLE 6 Matt Beaty, LF 3 2 3 3
+4.0 MIL 5, CHC 3 Janson Junk, (W 1‑1) 3.0 1 0 0 0 2
+3.0 BAL 6, BOS 4 Adley Rutschman, C 3 1 1 4
+3.0 TOR 8, PHI 3 Zach Britton, LF 2 1 1 3
+3.0 OAK 8, SD 6 Pablo Reyes, 2B 2 1 1 3
+2.0 STL 5, WSH 1 Kramer Robertson, 2B 3 1 2 2
+2.0 SF 4, OAK 3 Wilmer Flores, 3B 3 1 2 2
0.0 NYY 3, BOS 3 N/A
0.0 LAA 1, CHW 1 N/A
No points are awarded for exhibition games, but were this an actual regular season day, this is how points would be awarded:
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box‑Toppers points.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
All other players listed here would earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box‑Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
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Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. No points are awarded during spring training games, so all players have 0.0 Box-Toppers points for 2023. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for the period 2018-2022 (’18-22) and each players’ career point total. (Player of the Game winners not listed here have yet to earn Box-Toppers points during the regular season.)
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22 ’18‑22 Career
Rutschman, Adley 4659 ca ph bal al 0.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
May, Dustin 4214 pi sp lad nl 0.0 3.0 8.7 8.7
Flores, Wilmer 3345 3b 1b ph sf nl 0.0 2.5 14.5 24.0
Junk, Janson 4697 pi sp mil nl 0.0 1.7 1.7 1.7
Brown, Hunter 4729 pi sp hou al 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Boyd, Matthew 3550 pi sp det al 0.0 0.0 18.7 28.8
Lewis, Kyle 4301 cf ari nl 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
Beaty, Matt 4295 1b kc al 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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A Box-Toppers look at Monday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
DET Logue, Zach 4602 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
BAL Gibson, Kyle 3312 0.0 9.0 34.5 53.5
HOU Valdez, Framber 4048 0.0 16.0 31.4 31.4
WSH Williams, Trevor 3792 0.0 3.0 18.7 23.7
DET Diaz, Miguel 4016 0.0 0.0 4.0 4.0
TB Rasmussen, Drew 4547 0.0 11.1 13.1 13.1
BAL Watkins, Spenser 4479 0.0 3.0 4.0 4.0
ATL Dodd, Dylan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
NYY Tully, Tanner* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIN Coulombe, Daniel 3720 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0
BOS Murphy, Chris* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
TOR Manoah, Alek 4424 0.0 13.1 23.8 23.8
NYM Megill, Tylor 4464 0.0 5.7 11.7 11.7
MIA Garrett, Braxton 4341 0.0 5.7 7.7 7.7
CLE Plesac, Zach 4168 0.0 5.7 21.2 21.2
LAD Grove, Michael* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
ARI Gallen, Zac 4171 0.0 18.7 34.4 34.4
TEX Latz, Jake* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 0.0 15.4 44.2 44.2
CIN Williamson, Brandon* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
OAK Fujinami, Shintaro* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
COL Feltner, Ryan 4635 0.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SEA Ray, Robbie 3502 0.0 14.4 49.5 76.2
LAA Davidson, Tucker 4429 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
SF Manaea, Sean 3637 0.0 6.0 36.1 50.2
SD Teheran, Julio 3176 0.0 0.0 20.7 72.2
Starters subject to change.
Games shown are spring training games between MLB teams. Doesn't include World Baseball Classic or games vs. non-MLB teams.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
What are those numbers after players' names?
Chart is sortable. Click a column header to re-sort the chart by the values in that column. Refresh page to restore chart to default, game-by-game view.
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